Child&#39;s toilet training seat



W. J. BLACK CHILD'S TOILET TRAINING SEAT April 1 1959 'Filed Sept. 10, 1956- 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENT-OR WILLIAM .1. BLACK Apiil 7, 1959 w. J: BLACK 3,

CHILD'S TOILET TRAINING SEAT I Filed Sept. 10, 1956 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR WILLIAM -J.BLAI'.K

H IE1 AITORNEY April 7, 1959 w. J. BLACK CHILD'S TOILET TRAINING SEAT 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Sept. 10, 1956 INVENTOR WILLIAM .J. BLACK %7% HIEI ATTORNEY United States Patent 'CHILDS TOILET TRAINING SEAT William J. Black, Clearlield, Pa., assignor to Curtiss- Wright Corporation, a corporation of Delaware Application September 10, 1956, Serial No. 608,869

4 Claims. (Cl. 155-131) My invention relates to a childs toilet training seat of a collapsible type adapted for use over a conventional adult toilet seat.

Childrens toilet training seats of the type having arms and a back rest portion all of which may be folded into a substantially horizontal plane when the seat is not in use are well known in the art. It is also common practice to provide means for hingedly connecting such seats to hardware afiixed to the conventional toilet bowl so that the training seat when in a collapsed condition may be moved on its hinge connection to a position such that it does not interfere with use of the conventional toilet seat by adults. The present invention is directed to improvements in this type of traning seat and in the means connecting such training seat to elements afiixed to the conventional toilet bowl.

It is an object of the invention to provide a childs toilet training seat of the described type having a pair of foldable arms and a foldable back portion which arms and back portion interlock in upright positions to prevent an accidental partial collapse of the seat when in use.

It is another object of the invention to provide a seat of the described type with improved connecting means between the seat and hardware on the toilet bowl permitting pivotal movement of the training seat to an outof-the-way position or detachment of such seat from the connecting means.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent during a reading of the specification.

Referring to the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of the training seat of the invention with the sides, back portion, and urine deflector in upright positions;

Fig. 2 is a front elevational view partially in section taken on line 22 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a side elevational view of the seat of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a top plan view of the training seat in a collapsed condition;

Fig. 5 is a front elevational view of the seat of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a side elevational view of the seat of Fig. 4;

Fig. 7 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 7-7 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 8 is an enlarged top plan view of the rear portion of the bottom of the training seat showing the means for attaching the seat to hardware on a toilet bowl;

Fig. 9 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 9-9 of Fig. 8;

Fig. 10 is a. side elevational view of the rear portion of the seat and attaching means shown in Fig. 7;

Fig. 11 is a side elevational view showing the training seat both in a position for use on a conventional adult .toilet seat, and in a position against the toilet seat cover;

Fig. 12 is an enlarged fragmentary plan view taken on the line 1212 of Fig. 2 and showing one of a pair of springs for operating the arms of the training seat from collapsed to upright positions;

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Fig. 13 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 1313 of Fig. 12;

Fig. 14 is atop plan view of an adapter for facilitating attachment of the training seat to hardware on a toilet bowl.

In the drawings, reference characters 10 and 12 denote the arms of the training seat, and reference characters 14 and 16 denote the seat and back rest portions respectively. A urine deflector 18 may also be provided to render the seat suitable for use by boys. As may be clearly seen from Fig. 4 wherein the seat is shown in a collapsed condition, the arms 10 and 12 are provided with slots 20 and 22 respectively, and the back rest portion is provided with other slots 24 and 26. With the arms and back rest portion disposed for use in upright positions, arm 10 and back rest portion 16 interlock in the slots 20 and 24, whereas arm 12 and the back rest portion 16 interlock in slots 22 and 26.

Arm 10 is pivotally mounted on one side of seat portion 14 by means of pin 28 which extends through a pair of bosses 30 and 32 on the seat portion and through boss 34 on the arm. Arm 12 is pivotally mounted on the other side of seat portion 14 by means of the pin 36 which extends through a pair of bosses 38 and 40 on the seat portion and through boss 42 on the arm. The arms 10 and 12 are biased toward upright positions by a pair of springs each of which encircles one of the pins 36 and 28 and has opposite ends in contact with an arm and seat portion respectively. One such spring 44 for biasing arm 12 is shown in Figs. 12 and 13. The springs engage the seat rest portion in slots 46 and 48 respectively (Fig. 8) and engage the arms in similar slots such as slot 50 in arm 12 (Fig. 12).

Back rest portion 16 is pivotally mounted on the rear of seat portion 14 by the pin 52 which extends through a rearwardly projecting part 54 of seat portion 14 and through an elongated slot 56 in flanged end portion 58 of the back rest portion. As shown the flanged end portion 58 of the back rest 16 extends into a rectangular opening 60 in the seat portion 14 which opening is substantially closed by flanged end portion 58 with the back rest disposed in an upright position for use. In such position of back rest portion 16, the position of slot 56 is such that pin 52 is located at the slots upper end.

As pointed out hereinabove the arms and back rest portion of the seat interlock in the slots 20 and 24, and slots 22 and 26 when disposed for use in upright positions. In such interlocked position of the arms and back rest portion the seat may not be accidentally collapsed since the arms may not be moved any substantial amount without abutting against the edges of the slots in the back rest portion, nor may the back rest portion be moved a substantial amount without abutting against the edges of the slots in the arms. The seat may, however, be intentionally collapsed if desired.

In collapsing the seat, the urine deflector 18 which is pivotally mounted on studs 62 and 64 in seat portion 14 is first folded to a substantially horizontal position wherein it is nested in an opening in the training seat. Back rest portion 16 is then raised causing it to slide on pin 52 in the slot 56. In this manner the inside edges 66 and 68 of back rest portion 16 are raised above positions in which they may contact the arms 10 and 12. The arms 10 and 12 are folded inwardly on their hinges with slots 20 and 22 following arcuate edges 70 and 72 respectively in the back rest portion 16. The arms fold into positions in which they lay substantially flat against seat portion 14. The back rest portion 16 is permitted to assume its normal use position in which the upper end of slot 56 contacts pin 52, whereupon the back rest portion is folded inwardly until it lays substantially flat on tively in the arms extend beyond inside edges 66 and 68 and present an obstacle to outward movement of arms and 12 even in the raised position of back rest portion 16. Outside edges 78 and 80 of arms 10 and 12 present an obstacle to rearward movement of the back rest portion in its raised position.

The seat is unfolded by moving back rest portion 16 into an upright position. As the back rest portion is unfolded the arms 10 and 12 are moved upwardly somewhat due to the biasing force of the springs at the pivotal mountings for the arms. The arms are however restrained by the back rest portion from moving into upright positions until the back rest portion is upright and has been raised causing the lower end of slot 56 to contact the pin 52, whereupon the arms 10 and 12 are sprung outwardly by the biasing action of the hinge springs until contact is made with the outer edges 74 and 76 of slots ing seat of markedly improved design having foldable side and back portions which interlock in upright positions to prevent accidental collapse of the seat, and having an improved connection for attaching the seat to elements afiixed to a toilet bowl. As hereinbefore pointed out, the seat may be removed completely from the bowl by disconnecting it at the link 82 and put aside if it is not to be used for some time, or it may be transported for use elsewhere. Alternatively the seat may be pivoted in its collapsed condition on the pin end portions 88 and 90 to an out-of-the-way position against the toilet seat cover 148 permitting use of the adult seat.

It should of course be understood that this invention is not limited to the specific details of construction and arrangement thereof herein shown and described, and that changes and modifications may occur to one skilled in 24 and 26 respectively. The back rest portion 16 is then lowered on pin 52 interlocking the back rest portion and arms in the slots 20 and 24, and 22 and 26. Finally the urine deflector 18 is moved into an upright position.

Thetraining seat is adapted for attachment to a link 82 at the rear of the seat portion 14 which is for this purpose provided with a boss 84 receivable in a cut-out ,portion of the link. Boss 84 includes an opening 86 for receiving end portions 88 and 90 of U-shaped pins 92 and 94 respectively which are slidable in link 82. tached position of the seat on the link, the end portions 88 and 90 of the pins extend into the opening 86 thereby pivotally mounting the seat on the link. The seat is readily detached from the link by grasping the pins at their curved ends 96 and 98 which extend beyond side edges of the link, and under overlying shelves 100 and 102 respectively when the seat and link are attached, and then pulling the pins outwardly until the end portions 88 and 90 are withdrawn from opening 86 in boss 84. Reference is made to Fig. 8 showing the withdrawn positions of the pins in dotted lines. In such withdrawn position of the pins the seat may be removed from the link. The shelves 100 and 102 hide the curved ends of the pins from view and lessen the likelihood of the pins being grasped by children and the training seat being accidentally detached. Preferably the U-shaped pins 92 and 94 have enlarged ends 104 and 106 respectively for abutting against wall faces 108 and 110 respectively of the link in their withdrawn positions so that the pins may not be pulled out of the link and lost.

Link 82 is pivotally mounted on a rod 109 which extends through the link and has oppositely threaded end portions 111 and 113 for moving a pair of adapter pieces 114 and 116 in opposite directions as the rod is turned. As shown, slots 118 and 120 are provided at opposite ends of the rod 109 to facilitate turning of the rod with a screw driver. Adapter piece 114 has notches 122 and 124 and piece 116 has corresponding notches 126 and 128 in which the adapter pieces when properly positioned by turning rod 109 may engage conventional toilet seat fittings. The adapter pieces may, for example, be locked onto the inside edge of conventional fittings such as 130 and 132 in notches 122 and 126 as shown in Fig. 8 or they may be locked in notches 124 and 128. The fittings 130 and 132 are, for example, such as may pivotally attach an adult seat 57 to a rod 134 having opposite ends journaled in suitable mountings 136 and 138 which are fixed to a toilet bowl 146. For the purpose of rendering the training seat attachable to more than one type of adult seat adapter pieces 114 and 116 are also provided with corresponding notches 140 and 142 in which the pieces may grasp a rear portion of an adult seat.

It will now be appreciated that I have provided a train- In the atthe art without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What I claim is:

1. A childs toilet training seat comprising a seat portion, a back portion, side portions, and means connecting the back and side portions to the seat portion permitting said back and side portions to be pivoted to substantially flat positions overlying the seat and to-substantially upright positions, said back portion having a pair of slots and each of said side portions having a slot for receiving a slot of the back portion to interlock the back and side portions, .said connecting means including a slidable connection whereby relative positionsoff the back and side portions may be altered in their upright positions for unlocking and interlocking the backand side portions.

2. A childs toilet training seat comprising a seat portion, a back portion, side portions, and means connecting the back and side portions to the seat portion permitting said back and side portions to be pivoted to substantially flat positions overlying the seat and to substantially upright positions, said back portion having a pair of slots and each of said side portions having a slot for receiving a slot of the back portion to interlock the back and side portions, said connecting means including a slidable connection between the back portion and seat portion whereby the back portion may be raised or lowered in its upright position to respectively unlock and interlock the back and seat portions.

3. A childs toilet training seat comprising a seat portion, a back portion, side portions, and means connecting the back and side portions to the seat portion permitting said back and side portions to be pivoted to substantially fiat positions overlying the seat and to substantially upright positions, said back portions having a pair of slots and each of said side portions having a slot for receiving a slot of the back portion to interlock the back and side portions, said connecting means including a slidable connection between the back portion and seat portion whereby the back portion may be raised or lowered in its upright position to respectively unlock and interlock the back and seat portions, the slots in the back and side portions having edges engagable by the side and back portions respectively in the raised position of the back portion to prevent outward movement of the back and side portions.

4. A childs toilet training seat comprising a seat portion, a back portion, side portions, and means connecting the back and side portions to the seat portion permitting said back and side portions to be pivoted to substantially flat positions overlying the seat and to substantially upright positions, said back portion having a pair of arcuate edges each terminating in a slot, said side portions each having a slot for receiving a slot of the back portion to interlock the back and side portions, said arcuate edges being disposed in the slots of the side portions during pivotal movement thereof, the said connecting means including a slidable connection whereby relative positions of the back and side portions may be altered in 5 their upright positions for unlocking and interlocking the back and side portions.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Wolff Oct. 15, 1907 6 Carre Oct. 15, 1918 Headworth Apr. 3, 1934 Moreland Aug. 11, 1936 Bergman June 12, 1951 Paulus Nov. 24, 1953 Nika et a1. July 12, 1955 Niemann Mar. 20, 1956 

